Aurivo and Dale Farm, two of Ireland’s biggest dairy co-operatives, have decided against pursuing a merger that would have created an Irish Sea-straddling group, with a total milk pool of around 1.5 billion litres.
Aurivo, the Sligo-headquartered group behind the Connacht Gold butter and Donegal Creameries brands, will instead work together with Northern Ireland-based Dale Farm on some strategic projects, led by a steering group with representatives from both co-operatives, the groups said on Friday.
The boards of both companies had been exploring a formal merger that would have created a large, profitable entity that they believed would have been able to pay higher prices to its members.
Aurivo, which is supplied by farmers from the west, northwest and midlands regions, held exploratory meetings with some of its members in recent months to discuss the idea.
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The reaction to the proposed combination among members was mixed, however.
Earlier this month, a group of Aurivo suppliers wrote a letter to the editor of the Irish Farmers Journal, outlining their concerns about the potential tie-up.
They argued that the merger with Dale Farm, which is headquartered in Northern Ireland but is also supplied by farmers from Scotland and England, “would result in a permanent loss of regional control”.
“It would also lead to substantial job losses, material implications for long-term governance, regulatory oversight and potential milk supplier alignment, as there is a different model of milk production in Northern Ireland,” they wrote.
In a statement on Friday, Aurivo and Dale Farm said that following “detailed discussions and exploration over recent months”, the two co-ops have decided that “now is not the right time to proceed with a merger process”.
Instead, the groups “have agreed to work together on projects, including byproduct utilisation and added value protein”.
Nick Whelan, Dale Farm group chief executive, said the strategic partnership builds on the close working relationship between the two groups developed over the past five years through work on other projects.
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He also stressed the need for farmer-owned co-ops on the island of Ireland to work more closely together in an “increasingly competitive global market”.
“Through our collaboration in recent years, we have identified key areas where we can work together to benefit our farmers, shareholders and the wider dairy industry,” said Donal Tierney, Aurivo chief executive.
“This partnership sees two commercially strong dairy businesses work together to enhance processing efficiency, improve market returns and deliver long-term value.”
Both groups were in a strong financial position before the merger discussions began in earnest.
Established in 1972 as the North Connacht Farmers’ Co-operative Society, Aurivo had a total milk pool of 516 million litres in 2024 and reported revenues of more than €725 million, up by almost 14 per cent from 2023.
Meanwhile, Dale Farm had a milk pool of close to 940 million litres in 2024 supplied by its 1,300 members, making it the largest farmer-owned dairy co-op in the UK.
The group reported a more than 14 per cent jump in total revenues to £722.4 million in the year to the end of March 2025 in its most recent set of financial results.
Across Europe and the UK, pressure is mounting on dairy co-operatives to consolidate amid global milk price volatility and changes in global supply.
